5 Facts About Aurora Australis, the Southern Lights

BY Jay Serafino

March 31, 2017

JONATHAN BERRY/AFP/Getty Images

Everyone knows about the Aurora Borealis, a.k.a. the Northern Lights. This atmospheric light show is caused by the collision between charged solar particles and the atoms in our own atmosphere, resulting in a swirling spectacle of colors for lucky viewers up north. However, the Northern Lights has its own opposite number down under, appropriately called Aurora Australis, or the Southern Lights.

On March 23, the first-ever round-trip charter flight to the Aurora Australis took off, producing remarkable photos and videos of the oft-forgotten spectacle's ethereal beauty. In case this is the first you’ve ever heard of the Southern Lights, here are five facts you need to know.

2. THEY'RE MOST VISIBLE DURING SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE WINTERS.

Generally, the best months to spot the Northern Lights are from December through April, with the middle of northern winter being the ideal time (if you can deal with the cold). For the Southern Lights, you’d want to head down anywhere from March through September. This is the general wintertime for the Southern Hemisphere, when the polar region is locked in virtual darkness, creating optimal visibility. The lights exist all year round, but unless there are favorable viewing conditions (read: darkness), they won't be easy to spot.

3. EVEN WITH GREAT CONDITIONS, YOU STILL PROBABLY WON’T SEE THEM.

One of the reasons why the Southern Lights aren’t as popular as their partner up north is because there's not a lot of land down south from which to view them. Even if you’re at the southern tip of Chile or Argentina, or you’re hanging out on the Falkland Islands, you’re still not that close to the South Pole, which is where the lights will be brightest. An aurora is most visible during a geomagnetic storm in the South Pole, but if that storm isn’t strong enough to reach New Zealand or any other region to the north, chances are the light show won’t reach many, if any, human eyes. It also doesn’t help that a forecast of one of these storms isn’t really accurate until a few hours before it hits.

4. THE COLORS ARE ABOUT MORE THAN JUST LOOKS.

NOAA/Newsmakers

Though auroras are most commonly associated with the cascades of green we've come to recognize, there are also times when the lights can appear red, orange, yellow, violet, and blue. Since the lights are caused by charged solar particles colliding with our own atmospheric atoms, the type of atoms and the altitude involved will produce different colors.

Oxygen atoms at a lower altitude, for example, will cause that signature green light, but at higher altitudes, they’ll yield a red one. Conversely, nitrogen atoms will give off a range from violet to a pinkish-red, depending on altitude. Bluish or purple aurora lights might appear invisible to the naked eye, so certain specialized equipment or cameras may be needed to pick up on them.

5. NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN LIGHTS MIGHT NOT BE SYMMETRICAL.

For years it was assumed by scientists that the Northern and Southern Lights were symmetrical, but that might not be the case. The charged particles that cause the aurorae follow Earth’s magnetic lines, and scientists believed that they were distributed evenly to the poles where the lights are born. But in a study published in Nature, one team believes that’s not the case.

“Here we report observations that clearly contradict the common assumption about symmetric aurora: intense spots are seen at dawn in the Northern summer Hemisphere, and at dusk in the Southern winter Hemisphere,” study co-authors Nikolai Østgaard and Karl Magnus Laundal wrote. “The asymmetry is interpreted in terms of inter-hemispheric currents related to seasons, which have been predicted but hitherto had not been seen.”

All that science-y talk basically boils down to this: The Northern and Southern Lights are siblings but not twins, as Universe Today explains.

A photo from the 1919 wedding of Princess Patricia of Connaught to the Hon. Alexander Ramsay.

Need some St. Patrick's Day conversation fodder that doesn't involve leprechauns or four-leaf clovers? Ask your friends to name a "Pat" born on St. Patrick's Day. If they can't, they owe you a drink—then you can wow them with this list of 10.

1. PRINCESS PATRICIA OF CONNAUGHT

Princess Patricia was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, who gave up all of her royal titles when she married a commoner. She was born at Buckingham Palace on March 17, 1886.

2. PATRICK DUFFY

The Dallas star was born on March 17, 1949. And here's a totally random fact about Duffy: His nephew is Barry Zito, former MLB pitcher for the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants.

3. PATTIE BOYD

Larry Ellis, Express/Getty Images

Pattie Boyd is well-known to lovers of classic rock: She has been married three times, including once to George Harrison and once to Eric Clapton, who both wrote a couple of the most romantic songs in rock history in her honor (including The Beatles's "Something" and Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight"). Boyd was a model when she met Harrison on the set of A Hard Day's Night in 1964; the pair were married two years later. They divorced in 1977 and she married Clapton, Harrison's close friend, in 1979. She also had an affair with Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones toward the end of her marriage to The Quiet Beatle.

4. PAT RICE

Belfast-born Pat Rice is a former footballer and coach who spent the bulk of his career with Arsenal F.C. (that's "football club," a.k.a. soccer to us Americans). He joined the Gunners in 1964 as a mere apprentice, turning pro a couple of years later. He became captain in 1977 and left the club for a few years in the early 1980s to go to Watford, but returned after he retired from playing in 1984. In 2012, after nearly 30 years with the organization, he announced his retirement.

5. PATTY MALONEY

Patty Maloney is an actress with dwarfism who stands just three feet, 11 inches tall. She has appeared in many movies and T.V. shows over the years, including operating the Crypt Keeper puppet in Tales from the Crypt. She also played Chewbacca's son Lumpy in The Star Wars Holiday Special.

6. MATHEW ST. PATRICK

HBO

Ok, so Mathew St. Patrick is the stage name of the actor, but he was born Patrick Matthews in Philadelphia on March 17, 1968. You probably know him best as David's boyfriend Keith on Six Feet Under.

7. PATRICK ADAMS

He may not be a household name, but the recording artists Patrick Adams writes for and helps produce certainly are. Adams has been involved in the careers of Salt-N-Pepa, Sister Sledge, Gladys Knight, Rick James, and Coolio, among others.

8. PATRICK MCDONNELL

It's possible you look at Patrick McDonnell's work every day, depending on which comics your newspaper carries. McDonnell draws a strip called Mutts featuring a dog and a cat named Earl and Mooch, respectively. Charles Schulz called it one of the best comic strips of all time.

9. BILLY PATRICK CORGAN

Evan Agostini, Getty Images

Yes, you know him better as just plain old Billy Corgan: he's the face of the Smashing Pumpkins, engages in public feuds with Courtney Love, and maybe once dated Jessica Simpson. He made his debut on March 17, 1967.

10. PATRICIA FORD

Patricia Ford is a retired model probably best known for her Playboy photoshoots in the 1990s.

Under the guidance of Arthur Guinness and his heirs, Guinness has been brewing pints of its famous stout in Dublin since the mid 18th century. Pour yourself a glass of the black stuff (which actually isn't black at all) and read on for more facts about the legendary brewery.

1. THE COMPANY INITIALLY LEASED THE BREWERY FOR 9000 YEARS.

Guinness started his business in 1759 by renting an unused, four-acre brewery at St. James’s Gate in Dublin for the next 9000 years. He paid an initial £100 and locked in annual rent at £45. However, the original lease was voided when the company bought the property and the brewing operations expanded to 50 acres.

2. THE LEASE INCLUDED FREE ACCESS TO A WATER SUPPLY.

And the owner was very protective of that privilege. In fact, the one time local authorities tried to make Arthur Guinness pay for his water, he is said to have grabbed a pick-axe from one of the sheriff’s men and swore at them until they left.

3. THERE WAS ONCE AN ALE, AS WELL.

Guinness started his beer company by brewing two beers: a porter and an ale. However, the Dublin Ale was dropped from production in 1799 so brewers could focus on the increasingly popular stout.

5. THE BEER'S OFFICIAL COLOR IS RUBY RED.

6. GUINNESS IS BREWED IN 49 COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD.

In addition to in its home country, Guinness also owns breweries in Malaysia, Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon. All of the ingredients are sourced locally, except for one: the Guinness extract, a secret mixture that is added to a Guinness brewed anywhere in the world.

7. IRELAND ISN'T THE BIGGEST CONSUMER.

The country ranks third on the list of places where residents tip back the most Guinness annually, after Britain and Nigeria. Every day, 10 million glasses of Guinness are consumed around the world.

8. THE BUBBLES IN THE BEER SINK BECAUSE OF THE SHAPE OF THE GLASS.

When a Guinness is poured, the beer flows downward along the side of the glass, dragging bubbles along with it which then move upward through the middle and form the creamy head. This circulatory pattern is created by the fact that pint glasses are wider at the top than at the bottom giving the bubbles more space to rise from the middle as opposed to from the side.

9. GUINNESS WAS ONE OF THE FIRST COMPANIES TO OFFER EMPLOYEE BENEFITS.

Employees who punched the clock at the company in 1928, just one year before the Great Depression, were entitled to on-site medical and dental care—andtwo free pints after every shift. Guinness also consistently paid its employees 20 percent more than other brewers and gave them full pensions.

10. THE GUINNESS HARP WAS ONE OF THE FIRST TRADEMARKS IN THE U.K.

The harp, along with Arthur Guinness’s signature, made its first appearance on a Guinness beer label in 1862 and was officially registered in the trademark office in 1876. The harp is a nod to the beer’s Irish roots. The same instrument appears on Ireland’s coat of arms.

11. THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE TWO HARPS WERE NOTICED BY THE PATENT OFFICE.

The government ran into issues when trying to register the harp as a state symbol under international trademark law because the symbol and the Guinness label were so similar. Eventually, the state and the brewery were able to reach a compromise: the harp on a bottle of Guinness would always face right, while in official use, the harp would always be left-facing.

12. DURING WORLD WAR II, GUINNESS PROMISED TO GIVE EVERY BRITISH SOLDIER A PINT ON CHRISTMAS.

Guinness made thestatement before realizing that much of the company's work force was also serving abroad at the time. When the company discovered they needed more workers in order to brew enough beer, retirees showed up at the plant to help out. With the help from veterans and workers from other brewing companies, Guinness was able to stay true to its word.

13. IT MIGHT ACTUALLY BE GOOD FOR YOU.

As a 1920s advertising campaign exclaimed, a pint of Guinness does contain some extra benefits. (Guinness ended the campaign after a run-in with the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland.) Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison concluded that the dark stuff contains a dosage of flavonoids large enough to help reduce the risk of heart attacks.

14. THE FIRST GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORD WAS PUBLISHED TO HELP SETTLE ARGUMENTS IN THE PUBS.

After a particularly unfruitful hunting trip, Hugh Beaver, the managing director of Guinness, mentioned that the bird he and friends had been hunting—the golden plover—must be the fastest bird in the world. When Beaver was unable to locate a reference book that could back his claim, he decided to create one. He stamped the Guinness name on the cover and handed the book out for free to pubs to help customers settle the debates and bets that happen so frequently after a pint.

15. IT HAS BEEN CONSUMED UNDERWATER.

As part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of Arthur Guinness signing the lease on the St. James’s Gate brewery, the company held a contest that promised the winners would get to drink a Guinness like never before. A submarine bar was commissioned in 2009 and three years later, the winners went under the Baltic Sea in Stockholm to enjoy their pints.

16. GUINNESS CREATED ITS OWN SUPERHERO IN AFRICA.

As part of an advertising campaign, Guinness created a full-length action movie called Critical Assignment that was shown in cinemas across Africa. The story follows the strong journalist Michael Power as he tries to stop a corrupt politician from buying weapons with stolen money. Power gets all his strength from drinking—you guessed it—Guinness.